Published in the Sept 2012 Coal USA Magazine
According to historical accounts of the December 6, 1907 accident, 362 workers were lost, some of them children. More than 1000 children at the surface were left without a father.
This photo of West Virginian families waiting for news on their husbands, sons, fathers and friends may be nearing 105 years old, but change just the styles of clothing and hair and you easily can replace this crowd with those waiting for news about the Farmington disaster, Wilberg, and later the Sago mine explosion, the Crandall Canyon collapse and, most recently, the Upper Big Branch blast of 2010.
One with a much happier ending, however, was the Quecreek mine accident, which marked its 10-year anniversary on July 28, 2012. Nine men trapped underground, despite an inundation of millions of gallons of water, very limited oxygen and hypothermia-inducing cold, were rescued alive after more than 78 hours trapped nearly 300 feet underground.
Photo courtesy United States Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) National Mine Health and Safety Academy Technical Information Center & Library, Bureau of Mines Collection.
